ACHL Asian Citrus

TIDMACHL

RNS Number : 2867N

Asian Citrus Holdings Ltd

28 January 2016

 
 For immediate release   28 January 2016 
 

Asian Citrus Holdings Limited

("Asian Citrus" or the "Company", together with its subsidiaries, the "Group")

Notice of Results

Winter Orange Crop and Trading Update

The board of directors (the "Board") of the Company wishes to inform the shareholders of the Company and potential investors that, as anticipated and based on the preliminary assessment of the unaudited financial information and management accounts of the Group for the six months ended 31 December 2015 ("the Period"), turnover will be decrease and core net loss(#) will be significantly higher than the comparative period for the six months ended 31 December 2014(&) .

The key factors impacting this trading performance, were highlighted in previous announcements.

The actual winter orange crop yield of Hepu Plantation was approximately 4,671 tonnes, which was in line with the tonnage indication of 4,700 tonnes given in the Winter Orange Crop statement of 18 December 2015 (the "Winter Orange Crop Statement").

The actual winter orange crop yield of Xinfeng Planation was approximately 10,894 tonnes, against the tonnage indication of 11,000 tonnes given in the Winter Orange Crop Statement. The production yield from Xinfeng Plantation has, as previously announced, reflected the dramatic impact of the Huanglongbing disease infection.

Accordingly, the total production yield of winter oranges for the Group decreased from 110,993 tonnes for the corresponding period last year to approximately 15,565 tonnes in the Period, which represents a decrease of approximately 86.0%.

Additionally, the average selling price of the Group's winter orange crop was approximately 3% higher at the Hepu Plantation and 23.6% lower at Xinfeng Plantation compared to the prior year.

Furthermore, profitability was impacted by the need to apply additional pesticides as to prevent the spread of the Huanglongbing disease and protect the unaffected orange trees.

The revenue generated from the processed fruit business for the Period was reported as up by approximately 36.1% and the sale tonnage volume increased by approximately 18.3% in comparison to the same period of last year but the profit margin dropped to approximately 1.6% as there was continuing margin pressure.

As announced on 29 December 2015, Xinfeng Plantation had ceased operations permanently following completion of the winter orange harvest in 2015 ("Cessation of Operation").

The impairment losses and provisions relating to Cessation of Operation reported for the Period were approximately RMB850 million. The assessment of the net change in fair value of biological assets for the Period is still under review. The Board wishes to emphasise that the impairment losses and provisions relating to Cessation of Operations and the net change in fair value of biological assets are non-operational and do not have any effect on cash flow of the Group.

The information contained in this announcement is based only on the preliminary assessment of the unaudited financial information and management accounts of the Group for the Period currently available to the Board, which are being reviewed by the independent auditor (the review not yet completed) and are subject to adjustments.

The Board also announces that a meeting of the Board will be held on Friday, 26 February 2016, for the purposes of, amongst other matters, considering and approving the unaudited interim results of the Group for the Period for publication.

The interim results of the Group for the Period are expected to be released on 26 February 2016.

(#) Core net loss refers to loss of the Group for the period excluding change in fair value of biological assets, impairment and provisions relating to Cessation of Operation and share-based payments.

(&) During the six months ended 31 December 2014, turnover was approximately RMB584.4 million.

 
 For further enquiries please 
  contact:                            +852 3951 
  Asian Citrus                         0000 
 Emma Ng (Chief Financial Officer 
  and Company Secretary) 
 
 Cantor Fitzgerald Europe (NOMAD     +44 (0) 20 
  and Broker)                         7894 7000 
 Rick Thompson / David Foreman 
  / Michael Reynolds (Corporate 
  Finance) 
 
                                     +44 (0) 20 
 Weber Shandwick Financial            7067 0700 
 Nick Oborne, Stephanie Badjonat, 
  Tom Jenkins 
 

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END

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